In gardens and the greens of golf courses, it is necessary to trim the turf periodically, and therefore, mowed residues of the grass are generated periodically. Further, the mowed residues, grass, and stems, leaves, and roots of other plants, which are dead, accumulate on the lawn grass without decomposing, and a thatch is formed. It is known that, if the mowed turf or thatch thus generated is left for a long time period, various kinds of pathogenic bacteria are generated and proliferated and a toxic gas is generated, with the result that damages such as death and failure in growing of the turf occur. In particular, if pathogenic fungi which form spores are once generated, the forming of the spores proceed in the thatch layer to be a new inoculation source for the pathogenic fungi, resulting in more serious damages. In addition, it is known that the accumulation of the mowed turf or the thatch layer with a certain thickness on the soil prevent air, water, a nutrient source, and an agricultural chemical from transferring to the soil or the root of the turf, with the result that growing of the turf is inhibited and a disease is apt to develop. Conventionally, in order to remove the mowed turf or the thatch causing the problems, vertical and aeration are performed or physical means such as topdressing are used in golf courses and the like. However, it is difficult to say that those methods are easy methods. There have been problems that periodic conduction thereof needs labor and those methods cost much. In addition, the mowed turf and the thatch could not be removed sufficiently by those methods.
In addition, weeds grown at the river location or on roads have been administered by mowing down, drying, collecting, exporting, or burning of weeds. At present, easy broadcast burning and landfill dispositions are strictly regulated by laws. In particular, dispositions of a large amount of mowed grass leads to big problems in view of the environment, beauty, and cost.
In addition, the residue remained after harvest of crops becomes a source of the pathogenic fungi when left to stand as it is in the field, and hence, rapid removal or decomposition thereof is desired. However, there are big problems in the environment and cost as well as the above-mentioned administration of weeds.
Under such circumstances, a method of removing mowed turf or thatch by decomposition and volume reduction with a microorganism such as a bacterium is proposed. For example, there are known bacteria belonging to Penicillium and Bacillus macerans, which are capable of degrading cellulose. In addition, there is proposed an application of the bacteria to the soil containing a mowed turf or a thatch layer (Patent Documents 1 and 2). However, a microorganism material containing the bacteria does not have the ability of decomposing the mowed turf or the thatch sufficiently, thereby being not practical. Further, any one of the above bacteria proliferates and decomposes the mowed turf or the thatch in a predetermined test condition, but in the practical use, the natural conditions such as sunshine, temperature, and rainfall influence largely on the proliferation rate. Therefore, there have been problems that sufficient and stable effects cannot be obtained.
In addition, a method of using weeds by composting has been studied, but specific microorganism to be applied has not been studied sufficiently, and there is a problem that stable effects cannot be obtained (Patent Document 3).                Patent Document 1: JP 3324979 B        Patent Document 2: JP 3283228 B        Patent Document 3: JP 11-240784 A        